A jury had already been seated and sworn; prosecutors and her defense attorney both were prepared to proceed to trial.

Only the defendant, 31-year-old Tamara Hebert, was missing.

Judge Ben Willard issued a capias warrant for her arrest. The jury was dismissed for the afternoon and plans were made to resume the trial on Thursday morning, with or without Hebert sitting at the defendant's table.

Hebert was arrested in November 2010.

A man called police from the Razzoo Bar on Bourbon Street and said that two women had approached him around 2 a.m., according to court records.

The women "began to grab and touch about his body near his pockets," he said.

They dragged him onto the dance floor.

Hebert, he said, reached her hand into his pocket and removed a wad of money, wrapped in a rubber band.

Tamara Hebert fled, but the man grabbed the second woman, Destiny Hebert, before she could get away. Officer later found Tamara Hebert elsewhere in the bar with a large stack of cash.

Both women were charged with felony theft and possession of stolen things.

Destiny Hebert pleaded guilty to theft in August 2011 and accepted a five-year sentence as a habitual offender.

But Tamara Hebert opted instead of proceed to trial, which was set to begin on Wednesday.

The court seated a jury Wednesday morning, and the jury was sworn in, which marks the formal beginning of a trial.

The judge ordered a recess for lunch at 12:30 p.m., according to minute entries from the proceedings. When the jury returned at 2 p.m., Hebert was nowhere to be found.

Louisiana law requires that a defendant be present at their own trial, unless "he voluntarily absents himself after the trial has commenced," the code reads.

Prosecutors argued that the trial should continue without her, noting that a defendant's constitutional right to confront her accusers is technically waived if she willingly skips her own trial.

But her defense attorney, Benjamin Sanders, countered that no one knows what became to Hebert. Maybe she had a car accident, or a medical emergency, he speculated. The court could not determine that her absence was voluntary, and asked the judge to declare a mistrial.

He said he would work diligently to find her, and to determine where she was when she was supposed to return to court Wednesday afternoon.

Willard issued a capias warrant for her arrest, sent the jury home and asked that they return Thursday morning. She could be charged with jumping bail, punishable for up to an additional two years in prison.

If Hebert does not show Thursday morning, the judge could decide to try her anyway, in her absence.